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Edna Dean Proctor
by George J. Dance Edna Dean Proctor (September 1, 1827 - December 18, 1923) was an American poet.Janice Brown, "Henniker New Hampshire Poet: Edna Dean Proctor (1827-1923)," New Hampshire's History Blog, August 2007. Web, Oct. 11, 2015. Life Proctor was born in Henniker, New Hampshire, on Proctor’s Hill overlooking the Contoocook River, the eldest child of Lucinda (Gould) (1802-1878) and Captain John Proctor (1788-1836). She was educated at Mt. Holyoke Seminary and at Concord, New Hampshire. During her life she was a schoolteacher in Woodstock, Connecticut. and Framingham, Massachusetts, and a governess in Brooklyn New York City. She was described as "a charming woman of great beauty and a winning friendliness of manner." In the 1850s Proctor began contributing articles and poems to national papers and periodicals. In 1858 she anonymously published Life Thoughts, containing excerpts from the sermons of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, which was widely circulated. In the years before the Civil War, she became well known for patriotic poetry supporting the Union cause. Her debut collection poems was published in 1866. In the late 1860's she accompanied a party of friends on an extensive foreign tour, visiting Egypt and the Holy Land, and throughout Europe. She later wrote about a portion of her tour in an 1873 volume, Russian Journey. In 1874 she sued Francis D. Moulton for libel, for writing in the New York Post that she had had a sexual relationship with Rev. Beecher."Proctor vs. Moulton," The Great Brooklyn Romance: All the documents in the famous Beecher-Tilton Case, Unabridged (edited by Elizabeth M. Richards Tilton). Brooklyn, NY: J.H. Paxon, 1874. Google Books, Web, Oct. 11, 2015. In 1888 she compiled A Genealogy of the Storrs Family. In the latter part of her life she lived in Framingham, wintering in Boston and Washington. During this period she belonged to the Boston Authors’ Club, and was considered a part of literary Boston. She was a friend of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who included her poetry in his Poems of Places; and of John Greenleaf Whittier, who praised her poem "New Hampshire" as one of the noblest produced in the United States.Edna Dean Proctor, New Hampshire Women (Concord, NH: New Hampshire Publishing, 1895), 21. Family Findings, Web, Oct. 12, 2015. Proctor never married. She died in December 1923. Recognition In 1893 Proctor wrote the poem, “Columbia’s Banner,” which was used in the official program of Columbus Day programs throughout the United States. In 1899 Old Home Week was 1st observed in New Hampshire and she penned the official poem for the event. In her will, Proctor established the John Proctor and Family Trust Fund which funded the construction of a fountain in Proctor Square in Henniker, and provided funds to repair or replace the stone arch bridge across the Contoocook River. When the bridge was destroyed by a hurricane in 1938, the fund was used to rebuild it, and the new structure was named the Edna Dean Proctor Bridge. Publications Poetry *''Poems. New York: Hurd & Houghton / Boston: Dutton, 1866. *A Russian Journey. Boston: J.R. Osgood, 1872. *''The Song of the Ancient People. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1893. *''The Mountain maid and other poems of New Hampshire. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1900. *''Welcome. Peoria, IL: Brown, Page, & Hillman, 1902. *''Songs of America, and other poems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin / Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1905. *The Glory of Toil, and other poems. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1916. *''The Complete Poetical Works. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1925. Edited *''Life Thoughts: Gathered from the extemporaneous discourses of Henry Ward Beecher'' (anonymous). Boston: Phillips, Sampson, 1858. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Edna Dean Proctor, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Oct. 12, 2015. See also *List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *"Indian Summer" *"Take Heart" *"The Brooklyn Bridge" in The World's Best Poetry *"The Psyche" *Edna Dean Proctor in An American Anthology, 1787-1900: from "The Song of the Ancient People," "Heaven, O Lord, I Cannot Lose" *Edna Dean Proctor at AllPoetry (3 poems) *Poems by Edna Dean Proctor at Black Cat Poems (12 poems) ;About *"Henniker New Hampshire Poet: Edna Dean Proctor (1827-1923)" at New Hampshire's History Blog Category:1827 births Category:1923 deaths Category:19th-century poets Category:19th-century women writers Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:American poets Category:American women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets Category:People from New Hampshire Category:American schoolteachers Category:Writers from New Hampshire